Edouard cros



No. 614,700. Patented Nov. 22, I898.

E. cnos. INDICATOR FOR RAILWAY CARS.

(Application filed Jan. 21, 1898.)

(No Model.)

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FIG-.15..

UNTTE STATES EDOUARD OROS, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

INDICATOR FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 614,700, dated November 22, 1898.

Application filed January 21, 1898- Serial No. 667,389. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that I, EDOUARD GROS, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at Paris, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indicators and Circular-Distributers for Railway-Cars, (for which I have received patents in En gland,dated January 1, 1898, No. 83, and in France, dated December 30, 1897,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device to be attached to the outside of a railway-car in order to designate the car and to distinguish that car from others in the train and to form at the same time a holder and distributer for circulars, time-tables, 850.

It is well understood by those who travel on railways that much difficulty is experienced at times by the traveler who has alighted at a way-station in recognizing his own car and train, owing to the fact that railway-cars usually resemble each other in color and general appearance, and in the hurry and bustle he is liable to take the wrong car or train. To obviate this difficulty is the purpose of my invention, which consists in providing a receptacle for circulars having a slit in its bottom from which the end of a circular protrudes, the circulars being so folded together that in drawing out one the end of the next one will be brought out so that it may be grasped. This receptacle has at its back a hook by which it can be readilyhooked into an eye or keeper fixed on the car, and at its front it has keepers to receive a removable front plate on which is conspicuously marked some simple character or insignia peculiar to that car, as each of the cars must be marked differently. The receptacles on all of the cars will be or may be alike, but the plates on the fronts thereof will have each a different character or insignia, and in order that this indicator may be readily seen even after dark or when in a bad of the same, and Fig. 3 is a rear view of the same. Fig. 4: is a view on a much smaller scale, showing one way of applying the indicator and receptacle to a car.

The receptacle, as seen in Fig. 2, contains two compartments a and b, the former containing the circulars for distribution and hav= ing an aperture in its bottom from which the end of a circular depends within reach of the hand. The compartment 1) is to contain a supply of circulars to replenish those taken from the lower compartment a.

The front of the receptacle is formed by the plate 0, which slides in keepers din the front margins of the box or receptacle. On this front plate is marked the car-indicating character or insignia, here shown as an anchor, but merely as an example. The plate 0 may, as here shown, extend out laterally to any de= sired extent beyond the box or receptacle. It is represented as about double the width of the box. for attaching it removably to the car, and at the bottom it has lateral shields e c to protect the protruding end of the circular from dust and rain.

In order to be able to inspect the interior of the compartment (L, it has a window or slot 9 in its end.

Obviously the receptacle is not limited as to size, form, or particular material.

In case the receptacle is destined for dis tributing business-circulars for advertising purposes the insignia or character marked on the plate 0 may be the trade-mark of the firm, company, or'individual whose circulars are being distributed. Preferably the trade-mark marked on the plate a will be in this case reproduced on the projecting end of the circular, so that their similarity will be noticed by the traveler. Such a trade-mark will not be a numeral, which is not readily carried in the mind, but a symbolical figure, such as an anchor, as shown in the drawings, or a crescent, a cock, 850. These figures or symbols are readily borne in mind by the ignorant or unlettered, as well as by the educated, and they afford as well a means of advertising,

At the back the box has a hook f nating that particular car, said circulars each bearing an insignia or symbol, and such in- IS signia or symbol being the same as that borne by the said indicator-plate, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscrib- 2o ing Witnesses.

EDOUARD CROS.

\Vitnesses EDWARD P. MACLEAN, AUGUSTE MATHEAU. 

